Italy - Factors to watch on Nov. 1

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on .

ECONOMY (*) Dialogue between Italy and the European Commission over the country’s budget plans will not be an “exchange of concessions”, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Thursday.

COMPANIES

Bourse After Hours market closed.

ENI

Eni made no thorough background checks on a middleman it hired to broker a $1.3 billion Nigerian acquisition, a former board member of the Italian oil group told a Milan court.

ATLANTIA

Ratings agency Fitch has downgraded Atlantia 10 billion euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme’s senior unsecured rating to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’ and Autostrade per l’Italia’s long-term issuer default rating to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-‘, it said Wednesday. It also removed the ratings from Rating Watch Negative. (*) According to Il Sole 24 Ore, infrastructure fund F2i is looking into the creation of an motorway hub that would include Atlantia unit Autostrade per l’Italia (Aspi), Brebemi, in which Intesa Sanpaolo has a stake, and Milano Serravalle, a company controlled by the Lombardy region. The project will only go ahead if there is an agreement with the government that would guarantee the duration of Aspi’s concession, the paper added.

(*) TENARIS

The company said third-quarter net income rose to $247 million from $95 million a year ago.

Conference call on Q3 results (1300 GMT).

(*) CNH INDUSTRIAL

The trucks and tractor maker said it had entered into a strategic digital agriculture agreement with Farmers Edge.

M&A, ESSELUNGA

The majority owners of Italian supermarket chain Esselunga are seeking to team up with long-term investors to take full control of the business and squeeze out two of the family heirs, three sources familiar with the matter said.

M&A, ALITALIA

Budget airline EasyJet said on Wednesday that it had submitted a revised expression of interest for a restructured Alitalia, in response to the new Italian government’s ongoing sales process.

State-appointed administrators at Alitalia said on Wednesday they had received two binding offers for the Italian airline and one non-binding expression of interest.

A source with knowledge of the matter said Delta Air Lines had submitted the second binding offer for Alitalia.

The U.S. airline said in a statement that Alitalia was “a long-standing partner of Delta, forming a part of our trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France KLM. We continue to explore ways to work with Alitalia and maintain our partnership in the future”.

SAFILO

The company said its third-quarter EBITDA fell to 11.1 million euros from 14.7 million a year ago.

JUVENTUS

The soccer club has ended the employment contract with Giuseppe Marotta, it said on Wednesday.